« Gromaire », M. Zahar, Ed. P. Caillier, Lausanne, 1961
« Marcel Gromaire », MAM de la Ville de Paris, 1980
« M. G., 1892-1971, l’oeuvre gravé » Ville de Gravelines Ed. Westhoek 1980
« Gromaire, 50 années de dessin jour après jour » Galerie Présidence, Paris 1989
To read from the artist :
« L’Art, invention du concret », in la Revue « Esprit », 1934
Catalogue(s) raisonné(s)
*« L’oeuvre gravé de M. Gromaire », 2 Vol., François Gromaire, Ed. La Bibliothèque des Arts, Paris, 1976 *« L’oeuvre peint », F. Chibret-Plaussu & F. Gromaire, Ed. La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1993
Marcel Gromaire was born in 1892 in Noyelles-sur-Sambre in the north of France. He visits the countries of northern Europe of which the atmosphere profoundly influences his work. At a young age he goes to Paris and frequents many different Art Academies - Colarossi, Ranson and La Palette - and exhibits in 1911 at the Salon des Independents. Marcel Gromaire receives advice from Matisse and becomes passionate about roman, gothic and primitive art. He does his military service in 1913, and is wounded in combat in 1916 and will remain mobilized until 1919. He publishes drawings on the war, in ‘Le Crapouillot’ from 1916-1918.
Friend with Laboureur, Marcel Gromaire starts his engraving on wood in 1918. Then towards 1921 he engraves on copper plates. Gromaire takes the position of a classical painter and represents his era in ‘Modern Art and Notes of Art Today’ that he publishes in 1919. He decides to paint figurative and realistic works and insists on the importance of the subject. His first solo exhibition is organized in 1921. He paints with somber tones, expressive canvases about the modern town and man who lives there. The war remains one of the themes that he tackles; he also paints portraits and female nudes.
In 1934 he publishes a manifesto in the magazine “Esprit" "Art, the Invention of the Concrete”. In 1937 the artists paints murals for the Universal Exposition in Paris. Gromaire participates in the liberation of Paris in 1944 and 4 years later becomes vice-president of the National Union of Intellectuals, an organization that stemmed from the Resistance.
The still-lives, nudes and social subjects will be the themes of a whole life. Gromaire will draw in a constant style, drawings of nature or from memory - he will illustrate numerous works. Tinted engravings also play an important role in his work. Gromaire becomes a teacher at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris from 1950-1968.
Gromaire is in a league of his own, thanks to his mysterious and serious craftsmanship. He died in Paris in 1971.
In 1934 he publishes a manifesto in the magazine “
